Helen P. Edwards, 86

Helen Palmer Edwards, a dental assistant who worked with the East Hampton dentists David Baker and Gerald K. Sexton for over 50 years, died at home on Cooper Lane in East Hampton on May 13. She was 86 and had kidney failure.
She was born in Flushing on Oct. 8, 1925, a daughter of Stephen Palmer and the former Helen Wright of Bridgehampton. She graduated from the Dean Academy in Franklin, Mass., in 1943, but her goal of furthering her education was thwarted by World War II.
Before marrying James N. Edwards of East Hampton in 1953, she lived in Amagansett. The couple moved to Cooper Lane in East Hampton Village, where they lived for many years. Mr. Edwards died before her.
James N. Edwards Jr., Mrs. Edwards’s stepson, said that in addition to her work in dentistry, his stepmother rented rooms in the Cooper Lane house and tended productive vegetable and flower gardens, a favorite avocation.
In addition to her stepson, who lives in White Post, Va., she is survived by a stepdaughter, D. Blaine Craig of San Antonio, Tex. A sister predeceased her, as did a son of a former marriage, Guy Rana, who died in 1985.
Funeral arrangements were private. Memorial contributions were suggested for East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach 11978.